[b][/b]

It was quite easy for me. I noticed the protruding stomach. Benjamin was really having a good life. He started this way though, “I left school some 8 years ago. There were really no jobs and I needed one very badly. When you consider the expectations placed on me, you would get the picture clearer. My father left his job so early; not because he was of retirement age but for the fact that he became terribly sick that his employer knew it was time to go. This actually put a lot of pressure on me to fill the big shoes left behind by my father. My mother was suffering from high blood pressure and severe arthritic pains. To sustain her medication, we needed lots of money. And again, the rent was there to be paid, or else we would lose the roof over our head.

Benjamin rubbed his face for the umpteenth time and continued. “That was the kind of situation I was faced with. Some of my peers were already doing ‘big things’- they lived in their own mansions and rode fast cars. This was partly because they got admission into the university before me. However, while I was trying to do it myself, they engaged the services of mercenaries to get them across the line much earlier. And again, I was not sure what they were into but I heard stories about a couple of them involved in internet fraud. A few people actually questioned the source of their riches but it was easy for them to mask whatever it was by telling people that their investment in bitcoin had yielded dividends. The digital currency as you and I know is unregulated. So, it is easier for them to convert the proceeds of their internet crime to cryptocurrency and pin their riches on it. Anyway, I did not bother myself much about what they were into. For me as at that time, there was really no hope in sight for me.”

He fiddled with the ring on the third finger and then said, “It was the norm then for people to influence their NYSC (National Youth Service Corp) State postings and places of primary assignment. For this reason, the big commercial states and big corporations and multinationals got filled up before the posting even commences. The little money that I was able to save after I left school had a lot of basic needs putting pressure on it- much less having enough to influence postings. The day of the posting finally came. On my way to the university campus, I met four of my friends who had picked up their letters. Two were posted to Lagos while the other two got Rivers State. When I picked up my posting letter, my hand was shaking as I tried to reveal the content. My heart sank when I saw it- it was a state sharing a common border with another ravaged by terrorism. It was a state that everyone was avoiding. That moment, I knew that I was going to end up teaching in a college.”

In the concluding part, he said, “I got home that day and broke the news to my parents. My father went to bed that night and never woke up. I wasn't sure but I believed he gave up hope on me. Three days later, I took the journey to the unwanted location. After three weeks of orientation, the posting to places of primary assignment happened. Alas, I found myself in a remote local government for a teaching job. I was moving from the frying pan to fire, gradually but in quick succession. Anyway, I got on with my job and gave my best despite all the distress. The one year period for the program seemed too long but in the end, I was given the opportunity to spend an extra year in the school at the expiration. I almost declined it but since I was not sure of what was waiting ahead of me, I took it. That same year, the secondary school that retained my services posted the best result in the whole state. As a reward for my contribution towards this, a wealthy worthy son of the state gave me a scholarship for my master's degree. I didn't see this coming. During my Master's degree, I met this friend whose father was a director in one of the oil servicing companies. That was the turning point- he recommended me for a vacant position. I got the job and have been with them for the past 4 years. I worried too much. My dad did too. But in the end, none of those worries moved a finger for me. I am glad and grateful to God for the journey so far.

REFLECTION
I do not know what happened to Benjamin’s father. But I was able to relate with it. I had an uncle who died worrying over how he was going to survive post-retirement. There was just one outcome; he did not even live to witness the retirement. He retired from his life before it was time to retire from his job. Worrying is a cancer that would never solve tomorrow’s fears but they would end snatching away today’s peace.

We worry as if tomorrow was promised to us. A high percentage of those things that give us sleepless nights end up not happening. Remarkably enough, we go to bed without thinking about what could happen the next day; we could actually die or live the next day, but we do it anyway.

Always remember that while we worry so much about today, it ends up becoming the yesterday and the tomorrow we all worried for.

Thanks for this bro.